What NHS hospitals do if wards get too hot as Greater Manchester suffers more than 1,000 overheating incidents
Temperatures have now hit record highs today as the heatwave unfolds across the country. NHS chiefs have sounded alarm bells that an already stretched system, dealing with ever-increasing demand on A&Es combined with a rising Covid tide, will suffer as people are hit with heat-related illnesses and injuries.
In 2020/21, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, experienced 1,000 overheating occurrences triggering a risk assessment. The Royal Bolton Hospital's trust had 137. David Evans, Director of Estates and Facilities at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust, said: "Patients at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are our number one priority and we do everything we can to ensure they are comfortable during their stay with us, making sure that conditions within our hospitals are conducive to providing the best possible care.
Then Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies wrote in the NHS Heatwave Plan that 'as a result of climate change we are increasingly likely to experience extreme summer temperatures that may be harmful to health'. The Heatwave Plan was first published in response to the 2003 heatwave, where there were more than 2,000 excess deaths over the 10 day heatwave period.
Level three is triggered as soon as the Met Office confirms that high temperatures have been reached in any one region or more. As well as the above actions, trusts should be prepared for increased demand on services, visit or phone high-risk people and they should also be trying to reduce internal temperatures through shading, turning off unnecessary lights/equipment, and cooling buildings at night.
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